Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has said his party’s lawmakers who accepted the US$40 000 loan facilities from parliament crossed the line and will be punished.
Chamisa’s response comes after parliament recently offered a US$40 000 housing loan to each sitting member, US$500 000 for individual ministers and US$350 000 for their deputies.
All the loans have a total of US$14 million.
Chamisa’s representatives accepted the loans, and they are suffering backlash from their leader, who said the loans were bribes to support the ruling Zanu PF, and they were not supposed to accept them.
“It is so much about Mr. Mnangagwa trying to avert a bhora musango within Zanu PF because he feels that the MPs are going to vote for themselves and campaign for mukomana (Chamisa) and to avert that, they have had to try and oil the palms of the MPs.
“They could not do it for Zanu PF only, they also had to do it for CCC, but the CCC were not supposed to drink from this poison chalice. They have joined the pioneer column, they have joined the grave train, and they have crossed the line,” Chamisa said in a video.
Chamisa also said he has spoken to his MPs and vowed they will get punished if they do not do the right thing.
“I have told them that if you do not act accordingly, you know what it means, the citizens are waiting for you, and they are going to punish you and punish you happily.
“So that one is already catered for, I do not agree, encourage or support it. I do not believe that people must be talking about their welfare when the nation is struggling the way we are struggling,” he said.
The CCC leader also said that the money will do so much if it’s directed towards the health care system which is in shambles.
Chamisa added: “To call it a loan is to be very nice; this is a bribe disguised as a loan, a donkey is a donkey, you cannot call a lion a cat.”
Meanwhile, critics have also questioned why parliamentarians are not approaching banks to access loans, and sought reasons as to why they were rewarding themselves when the country was riddled with problems that could be solved by the large paycheck they have reserved for themselves.
